Tom Tomlinson was an unknown quantity locally when he was picked in July to succeed Thomas R. Kendrick as head of the O.C. Performing Arts Center. Five months after his arrival from Anchorage (he was director of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts), it still remains unclear what kind of stamp Tomlinson will put on the county's 7-year-old cultural edifice.

Construction resumed today on an office complex where bones of a Native American man were discovered. The remains, estimated to be between 200 and 500 years old, were turned over to the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians for reburial nearby, a city official said. Tom Tomlinson, planning director, said the discovery halted work yesterday on the 142,000-square-foot office complex. The bones, which were 12 feet down, seemed to be from one person, and no other artifacts were found, Tomlinson said.

Party hostesses, take note: The man on everyone's social A-list despises Brussels sprouts, likes white wine, mainlines French roast coffee, prefers pasta, makes a "mean vegetable lasagna" and enjoys intimate parties for 10 to 12 people. Oh, and fascinating conversation is dessert enough for Tom Tomlinson--the new executive director of the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. He doesn't do sugar. So, after that sit-down repast, serve up some interesting chitchat.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center has reached a settlement with Tom Tomlinson, who left, apparently under pressure, as its president in July. Tomlinson said Tuesday that the settlement is financial but would not disclose details. A spokesman for the center confirmed that a settlement has been reached but would not confirm that money is involved. No reason has been given for Tomlinson's departure.

Will Aretha Franklin wail? Will a new symphony hall go up? Will a play about AIDS take center stage? Will sleepy theatergoers finally get some java? Tom Tomlinson can't say, exactly. Tomlinson, named Thursday as the new chief of the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, effective Oct. 1, wants to unpack his bags and stay awhile before he starts talking specifics.

Construction resumed today on an office complex where bones of a Native American man were discovered. The remains, estimated to be between 200 and 500 years old, were turned over to the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians for reburial nearby, a city official said. Tom Tomlinson, planning director, said the discovery halted work yesterday on the 142,000-square-foot office complex. The bones, which were 12 feet down, seemed to be from one person, and no other artifacts were found, Tomlinson said.

When Tom Tomlinson arrives in October to take over directorship of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, he will find a community and an arts scene in some ways very similar to, and in other ways quite different from, what he is leaving in Anchorage, Alaska. Both communities are conservative to begin with, both are suffering economic downturns after periods of great prosperity, and both are relative newcomers when it comes to utilizing and supporting performing arts centers.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center has reached a settlement with Tom Tomlinson, who left, apparently under pressure, as its president in July. Tomlinson said Tuesday that the settlement is financial but would not disclose details. A spokesman for the center confirmed that a settlement has been reached but would not confirm that money is involved. No reason has been given for Tomlinson's departure.

The top staff executive of the Orange County Performing Arts Center was forced out of his post, a knowledgeable source in the arts community said Thursday. Tom Tomlinson resigned abruptly earlier this week, with no explanation, as president of the county's most prominent arts institution. Reached at his home Thursday, he declined comment. Meanwhile, Eric Davis, an attorney specializing in employment law, said he has been retained by Tomlinson but declined further comment.

Orange County Performing Arts Center executive director Tom Tomlinson confirmed late Thursday that he is negotiating with Orange County Philharmonic Society officials who want to present a series of ethnic programs in the building next season, but he was not as supportive of the series as society director Dean Corey had indicated.

The top staff executive of the Orange County Performing Arts Center was forced out of his post, a knowledgeable source in the arts community said Thursday. Tom Tomlinson resigned abruptly earlier this week, with no explanation, as president of the county's most prominent arts institution. Reached at his home Thursday, he declined comment. Meanwhile, Eric Davis, an attorney specializing in employment law, said he has been retained by Tomlinson but declined further comment.

Local arts leaders said they were shocked, puzzled and saddened Tuesday by Tom Tomlinson's sudden resignation as president of the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Bonnie Brittain Hall, executive director of Arts Orange County, a service organization of which Tomlinson was a founding board member, said she was "mystified." It is "uncharacteristic" of Tomlinson or any "top person at a major arts institutions to leave so abruptly," she said.

The president of Orange County's Performing Arts Center has resigned, officials announced Tuesday, stunning the arts community. Tom Tomlinson, who as chief operating officer introduced more adventuresome programming to the county's most prominent cultural institution, declined to say why he had quit the post he took three years ago. The resignation comes as the center's yearlong 10th-anniversary celebration is coming to a climax.

A "leadership gap" threatens the future of the county's art scene, making it vital for arts groups to seek out "tomorrow's leaders," the president of the Orange County Performing Arts Center said Wednesday. The president, Tom Tomlinson, suggested that one way the center itself might attract such leaders is to "broaden (the scope of) who we reach and represent" by becoming less "market-driven" and more active "in the business of creating new product."

Twelve months after taking over the top job at Orange County's largest arts institution, Tom Tomlinson looks no worse for wear. Movie-star tan and not a blond hair out of place, he gives the outward appearance of operating on cruise control. In fact, he works off stress by running 50 miles a week. And his style of leadership draws nothing but raves from the people who work with him. One local arts executive calls him "a problem-solver." Another lauds him as "a consensus-builder."

Tom Tomlinson was an unknown quantity locally when he was picked in July to succeed Thomas R. Kendrick as head of the O.C. Performing Arts Center. Five months after his arrival from Anchorage (he was director of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts), it still remains unclear what kind of stamp Tomlinson will put on the county's 7-year-old cultural edifice.

July 16, 1993 | BOB ELSTON, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES; Times correspondent David Hulen contributed to this report from Anchorage

The Orange County Performing Arts Center went all the way to Alaska to find a new executive director. Tom Tomlinson, who has directed the publicly funded Alaska Center for the Performing Arts since it opened in 1988, comes from a city where it is notoriously difficult and expensive to attract major touring shows. "Southern California is on the road to somewhere," said Tomlinson in reference to his decision to move south. He will start on Oct. 1, the day after Thomas R.

Local arts leaders said they were shocked, puzzled and saddened Tuesday by Tom Tomlinson's sudden resignation as president of the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Bonnie Brittain Hall, executive director of Arts Orange County, a service organization of which Tomlinson was a founding board member, said she was "mystified." It is "uncharacteristic" of Tomlinson or any "top person at a major arts institutions to leave so abruptly," she said.

Orange County Performing Arts Center executive director Tom Tomlinson confirmed late Thursday that he is negotiating with Orange County Philharmonic Society officials who want to present a series of ethnic programs in the building next season, but he was not as supportive of the series as society director Dean Corey had indicated.

Party hostesses, take note: The man on everyone's social A-list despises Brussels sprouts, likes white wine, mainlines French roast coffee, prefers pasta, makes a "mean vegetable lasagna" and enjoys intimate parties for 10 to 12 people. Oh, and fascinating conversation is dessert enough for Tom Tomlinson--the new executive director of the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. He doesn't do sugar. So, after that sit-down repast, serve up some interesting chitchat.